# If something is "dropped" from ISS altitude, do we need to worry about it burning up on re-entry **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 3, 2025, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514 "2025-11-03T02:02:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/81 "2025-11-05T13:32:19Z")
The air burst is caused by air pressure (well, plasma pressure) compromising the structural integrity of the meteor, not by overall heating of the meteor. To quote from the Wikipedia link: > In essence, the meteoroid is ripped apart by its own speed. This occurs when fine tendrils of superheated air force their way into cracks and faults in the leading face’s surface. Once this high pressure plasma gains entry to the meteoroid’s interior it exerts tremendous force on the body’s internal structure. This occurs because the superheated air now exerts its pressure over a much larger surface area, as when the wind suddenly fills a [sail](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail). This sudden rise in the force exerted on the meteoroid overwhelms the body’s structural integrity and it begins to break up. The breakup of the meteoroid yields an even larger total surface area for the superheated air to act upon and a cycle of amplification rapidly occurs. This is the explosion, and it causes the meteoroid to disintegrate with [hypersonic velocity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_speed), a speed comparable to that of explosive [detonation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonation).[[8]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_air_burst#cite_note-:0-8) ---
**Author:** ![Xocomil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xocomil/32/14927_2.png) [@Xocomil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xocomil)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/82 "2025-11-07T08:12:05Z")
What would be doing the ablating above 90 km? Even at that low elevation q is still only equivalent to a stiff breeze. It’s spending, what, a minute maybe, at any appreciably high temperature and q. That doesn’t seem to be enough time to heat a significant amount of a steel ball that size. Is there even enough energy in a column of air as wide as the sphere and 400 km tall to heat up the entire sphere to its melting temperature? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/83 "2025-11-07T09:57:22Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Looks like the outside burns, but so quickly that the inside stays cold, at least if you’re dropping a steak: I saw Munroe speak last year, and he mentioned that after he published the “Steak Drop” column he was contacted by a couple of university researchers with access to a wind tunnel who had put this to the test. And the answer was pretty much exactly this: > [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > The key here is _ablation_. The surface heats up very quickly, loses structural integrity (i.e, softens/melts), and is torn away by hypersonic airflow. Exposing a new surface, which heats up very quickly, loses structural integrity, and is torn away by hypersonic airflow. Rinse and repeat. > > That’s how everything that “burns up” in the atmosphere is destroyed. Nothing heats up uniformly and vaporizes all at once. The 1 kg ice ball you mentioned earlier in the thread (actually you said 1 kg of water) won’t completely vaporize, but a very large part of it will never reach the ground. The outer layer “cooked” and ablated way too quickly for any heat to transfer to the inside, so it was just a matter to losing layer after layer as time went on. He also said that the researchers then had to spend the whole night cleaning tiny bits of steak out of the wind tunnel. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/84 "2025-11-07T12:24:56Z")
Very cool experiment! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/85 "2025-11-07T19:44:26Z")
Some experiments are much easier as _thought_ experiments. Although I gotta say, putting steaks in a hypersonic windtunnel (especially a taxpayer-owned hypersonic windtunnel) sounds like one the greatest examples ever of “The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” 😁 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/86 "2025-11-07T19:50:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” As the owner of a high-end German sports car, I imagine you would know! 😁 Sorry, couldn’t resist! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/87 "2025-11-07T19:58:57Z")
Most of my money I spent on wine, women, song, and grown-up toys. The rest I wasted. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/88 "2025-11-07T20:24:10Z")
Quick search finds video. Munroe prediction confirmed. > **[You Can Sear A Steak By Dropping It From Space, But Not Cook It](https://www.iflscience.com/you-can-sear-a-steak-by-dropping-it-from-space-but-not-cook-it-66699)** > > A steak falling from space? Well, if you prefer your meal to be a little meteor. > **[Randall Munroe](https://twitter.com/xkcd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603440287065555048%7Ctwgr%5E4b1e2dca3e8e4119b69fddeabef82d7f4622734f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iflscience.com%2Fyou-can-sear-a-steak-by-dropping-it-from-space-but-not-cook-it-66699)** > > [@xkcd](https://twitter.com/xkcd?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603440287065555048%7Ctwgr%5E4b1e2dca3e8e4119b69fddeabef82d7f4622734f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iflscience.com%2Fyou-can-sear-a-steak-by-dropping-it-from-space-but-not-cook-it-66699) > > · > > **[Follow](https://twitter.com/intent/follow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1603440287065555048%7Ctwgr%5E4b1e2dca3e8e4119b69fddeabef82d7f4622734f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.iflscience.com%2Fyou-can-sear-a-steak-by-dropping-it-from-space-but-not-cook-it-66699&screen_name=xkcd)** > > Overall, their results matched my answer in the chapter pretty well! The the surface of the steak was cooked by the winds, charred, and blasted away, while the interior stayed cold and raw. Conclusion: This is not a great way to cook steak. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2025, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514/89 "2025-11-07T20:53:14Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > “The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” The other version I heard was: “The difference between men and boys is the size of their… toys.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-something-is-dropped-from-iss-altitude-do-we-need-to-worry-about-it-burning-up-on-re-entry/1024514.md?page=4)